The best things to do in Kotor are climbing the city walls to San Giovanni fortress, the Romanesque cathedral of St Tryphon, the boat out to Our Lady of the Rocks at Perast, and the serpentine road up to Lovćen. Give the town two days, three if you want a full day trip, and come in May, June or September, when the water is warm and the cruise calls thin out.
Kotor is small, walled and vertical. The old town takes an afternoon, the climb above it takes a morning, and everything else worth the trip sits along the bay road on either side: fishing villages, captains' houses, an island church built on dropped stones. Below are the ten things worth your time, plus where to eat, swim and drive once you have done them.
Roughly 1,350 steps switchback up the cliff behind the old town to the fortress of San Giovanni, about 260 metres above the water. The stone is uneven and there is no shade after the first bend, so start early. The view from the halfway church already justifies the ticket; the top adds the full length of the inner bay.
Consecrated in 1166 and rebuilt after successive earthquakes, which is why its two bell towers do not match. Inside are 14th-century frescoes and a first-floor reliquary of gilded silver that is the town's most valuable object. It is the anchor of the old town and the reason Kotor keeps 3 February free.
The island off Perast is artificial. Sailors dropped rocks and scuttled ships on a reef for two centuries after an icon was found there in 1452, and a church went up on the result. Tripo Kokolja's paintings cover the interior, and small boats run the five-minute crossing all day from the Perast quay.
Three floors of the Grgurina Palace, built in 1732, given over to what the bay actually did for a living: ship models, captains' portraits, charts, uniforms and weapons from the Boka Marine fraternity's collection. An audio guide comes with the ticket. It explains the palaces you walk past afterwards.
The old mule track to Cetinje, known in Venetian times as the Scala di Cattaro, zigzags up the mountain behind the walls. Around 600 metres up it levels at a ruined signpost, and from there you look straight back down the full ladder. Turn round there for a half day, or carry on to the Krstac pass.
Twenty five hairpins climb from sea level to the Krstac pass, and the bay unpacks itself behind you at every one. At the top of the park, 461 steps lead to Petar II Petrović Njegoš's mausoleum at 1,657 metres, and the terrace behind it looks over most of Montenegro.
A villa floor uncovered in 1930 at the oldest settlement on the bay, once the seat of the Illyrian queen Teuta. The mosaics date from the 2nd century and one of them shows a winged Hypnos, the god of sleep, which is the only known mosaic of him anywhere. The dining room floor runs to grapevines and squid.
The village sits on the far side of the serpentine, at the height the ham needs: dried in mountain air, then cold-smoked over beechwood. Village houses sell pršut, hard cheese in oil and honey across a counter, and it is the standard stop on the way back down from Lovćen.
There is no beach in Kotor itself. What there is instead runs north: seven kilometres of promenade past captains' houses, with concrete platforms and iron ladders dropping straight into deep water. It is where the town swims, and the water is cleaner than anything closer in.
St Luke's went up in 1195, served Catholic and Orthodox congregations on alternate days for two centuries, and now holds Orthodox services; St Nicholas, from 1909, stands across the same square. The square is worth timing: by six the day-trip crowds are gone and the old town belongs to its residents again.
A watermill from the 1700s at the mouth of the Ljuta, run by the same family for four decades. Seafood, and tables set over the water.
Below the walls on the Škaljari side, looking back at the old town across the moorings. The most serious fish kitchen in Kotor.
Inside the walls and open since 1931, which makes it the oldest restaurant in town. Montenegrin home cooking, fair prices.
A stone room in the old town doing the Boka standards: black risotto, grilled squid, whatever came out of the bay.
Charcoal, meat and portions built for two. Order at the counter, wait outside, eat more than you planned.
Montenegrin bottles by the glass near the North Gate, with cheese, olives and pršut to go with them.
The most composed wine list in the old town, cold cuts to match, live music at weekends.
Rock on the stereo, beer that costs less than the wine bars, a terrace to watch the square from.
Prints, postcards and engravings about the animal that became the town's emblem. Twenty minutes, and children like it.
The small church halfway up the fortress climb, at the bend where everyone stops for breath and gets the view anyway.
A neoclassical church far larger than the village under it, reached by its own staircase up from the promenade.
Seven kilometres of promenade with concrete platforms and iron ladders into deep, clear water. Free, and quiet by local habit.
A pebble strip under a stone tower at the Perast end of the bay, with the island church sitting in the view.
Actual sand, shallow and sheltered, on the far side of the Vrmac tunnel. About half an hour by car.
A 200 metre sand beach on the Budva side of the ridge, worth the drive when you want to swim off a proper beach.
Twenty five hairpins climb the serpentine from sea level, and the pull-ins near the top frame the whole inner bay.
The limestone ridge dividing Kotor from Tivat, walked from the Austro-Hungarian fort above Gornja Lastva. Water on both sides for most of it.
An 1880s Austro-Hungarian fort above Škaljari that still holds a Grüson armoured turret, the only one of five left anywhere.
A stone path climbs through chestnut woods to a hillside village most of whose houses were left behind. About an hour up from the water.
One waterfront street of Venetian palaces and churches, no through traffic, and two islands offshore. The St Nicholas belfry is the climb.
A long, quiet waterfront across the bay from Dobrota, and once one of the southern Adriatic's serious maritime towns.
A fishermen's row of stone houses directly opposite the old town, about twenty minutes on foot around the harbour.
Two villages in one name: a waterfront strip planted with camellias, and an emptied hamlet up in the chestnut woods.
The oldest settlement on the bay, seat of the Illyrian queen Teuta, and the address of the Roman mosaics.
A walled town of its own about twenty five minutes down the coast, with the beaches Kotor does not have.
The old royal capital behind Lovćen: the monastery, the former embassies and the national museums on one square.
Boats run out past the Mamula island fort to a sea cave that turns the water bright blue around midday.
Stairs, forts and subtropical planting at the mouth of the bay, about forty minutes if you take the ferry.
The superyacht marina built on the old naval base, with its own naval heritage museum, twenty minutes through the tunnel.
The patron saint's feast, with the Boka Navy in dress uniform and the cathedral at the centre of it.
Masked ball, children's parade and street concerts inside the walls, in the quietest month of the year.
Camellia shows and a camellia ball, a tradition the Boka seafarers started when they brought the first plants back from Japan.
A week of street and stage performances for children, on the old town squares.
Classical concerts, ballet and symphonic programmes in churches and courtyards across the town.
A line of boats carries stones out to Our Lady of the Rocks after dark, as Perast has done for centuries.
The carnival again, in summer clothes: masks, floats and a night parade through the walls.
Decorated boats circle the bay off Kotor and the evening ends in fireworks. The town's biggest night.
The closest airport, about 8 km around the bay and 20 minutes by road. Summer-heavy schedule, small terminal, taxis outside arrivals.
The year-round option, roughly 90 km inland and about 90 minutes by car. Better winter connections than Tivat.
Kotor bus station sits just outside the South Gate and handles the coastal and intercity routes. Along the bay, the Blue Line service links Dobrota, Perast, Prčanj and Tivat, paid to the driver.
Ham from the village up the serpentine, air-dried in mountain wind and cold-smoked over beechwood.
Hard cow's cheese from the same village, usually served in oil alongside the pršut.
Mussels or prawns cooked in white wine, garlic, olive oil and breadcrumbs. Order bread with it.
Black risotto, coloured and flavoured with cuttlefish ink. Every konoba on the bay does one.
Grilled squid, usually with blitva: chard and potato turned through garlic and oil.
Fish soup thickened with rice, the standard opener before anything off the grill.
Fried dough eaten with honey and cheese for breakfast, or with pršut when it is a savoury course.
Cornmeal, potato and cheese beaten together. A mountain dish that came down the serpentine and stayed.
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